


Oasis

by Anonymous



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), ソードアート・オンライン - 川原礫 | Sword Art Online - Kawahara Reki
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, No spoilers though other than a new character, Pregnancy, Unital Ring is Real AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26836999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: When Spiegel goes off to hunt, Fikki is put in charge of watching over a pregnant Sinon. Their conversation makes the cold sniper come to a warm realization.
Relationships: Asada Shino | Sinon/Shinkawa Kyouji | Spiegel
Collections: Anonymous





	Oasis

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn’t clear, the only major things I took from Unital Ring are the setting and one character. The whole Kyoushino bit is purely fanfiction (though I so wish it was canon)!

Sinon didn’t care for other humans. By that, she meant mammals with the same shape, functions, and customs as herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them; they just didn’t interest her. The few that did were her husband, Spiegel, and the adventurers she’d once travelled the world with. Perhaps that was why she took a liking to the Ornit Tribe and  _ their _ culture.

Sinon had stumbled across their village back when she was still an active member of Kirito’s posse, on a scouting mission of her own. She’d ventured too far and dehydration started to set in. In her mortal impulsivity, she felled the Stelokepharos that made its rounds by the Ornit Tribe’s watering hole. It’d been terrorizing them for quite some time, so the village viewed Sinon’s survivalist instinct as an act of charity. They welcomed her into their community as thanks. Happy accident.

The Ornit Tribe was made up of humanoid birds. They were like the sparrows and blue jays that she’d caught glimpses of in Norlangarth, except bigger and more evolved. They had their own language, too, which Sinon had easily learned after a night of eating dinner with them. After that, she was able to fit right in. Better than she ever had with the people from SBC Glocken, anyway. So, once her quest was over and done with, she decided to stay with the Ornit Tribe for good.

There was just one problem with that in the long run.

“Sinon, are you sure you don’t want me to make the trip to Centoria to get help? I’m unsure if those around us know much about this,” Spiegel fretted. His brow was knitted and he almost seemed to pout as he waved his hand around Sinon’s midsection. Her baby bump was big enough that anyone could tell that her and Spiegel’s child would be arriving soon. She rested a hand atop it and then huffed,

“If you go now, you might miss it. We don’t have the Mechanized Dragons they do, so travel still takes a while. Besides, we already asked our friends all we could a few moons ago. They were quite smothering then, so I can’t imagine how they’d act if they were here for the delivery. You don’t want me to feel smothered, do you?” Sinon’s words must have been effective, for her husband hunched his shoulders in defeat.

“I do not…” he sighed before fixing up his posture and shooting her a weary smile. “In that case, I’ll just go hunting with Leader and the rest. Don’t try to act humble while I’m gone! Ask for help if you need it, okay?” Sinon rolled her eyes at him.

“I know, I know,” she grumbled. She could not have looked any more annoyed, but then she suddenly perked up. “If you spot a Stelokepharos, you better bring it back as spoils.” She said it with a tiny yet enthused grin. Her mouth was even watering.

“You really do like those steaks, don’t you?” Spiegel chuckled, “I’ll make sure to keep an eye out.” He nodded and turned on his heel, his long ponytail flipping as he did, then walked over to the far end of the room. He opened the door to the storage and began taking out the weapons he’d brought along when he and Sinon left SBC Glocken all those years ago.

The two of them currently lived in a log cabin right by the Ornit Tribe’s watering hole. Sinon had built it herself upon returning, saying that she loved the view and could think of no better place to grow old next to. It was a bit removed from the main village, but the Ornit Tribe was grateful that they had someone to guard the spring. As long as Sinon was there, no Stelokepharos would dare intrude.

“I’m off,” Spiegel called as he slung a rifle over his shoulder. He looked backward and gave his pregnant wife a wave, to which she smiled and waved back. He then opened the front door and stepped outside. Even though he’d locked it upon his exit, Sinon could hear the crunching sound of his boots against the dirt as he walked to the village.

“Ugh, I wish I could hunt with them…” she whined, “You just had to go and render me immobile, huh?” She flung her head backward, leaning it against the top of her rocking chair. Her right hand still resting on it, she gave her baby bump a few gentle strokes.

“I can’t stay mad at you, though,” Sinon whispered sincerely. As if he was responding to his mother’s affection, the baby gave a small kick. It was a startling feeling but, after the first few times, she was getting used to it.

Fikki and Hupherm’s grandmother, the spouse of the village elder, had been the first to notice that Sinon was pregnant. Being an Ornit, she knew little of human reproduction. However, she had insisted that the younger woman “gave off the same vibes as when us Ornit women have eggs.” Soon enough, Sinon started showing symptoms. Her and Spiegel came to trust the elder Ornit’s intuition after that, so they fully believed her when she said that they’d be having a son.

“Still, Sycamore, you better hurry up! I’m sure it’s nice and warm in there, but still,” Sinon chided in jest. She’d picked the name, saying that it was because she liked the deciduous trees she’d seen in Rulid. She liked any trees, since SBC Glocken had none, and she liked calling her son by name as well.

“Who’re you talking to?” a voice asked suddenly. At that moment, a light clacking noise akin to the sound of footsteps filled the room. Sinon looked up and saw none other than her friend, Fikki, who she’d entrusted with spare keys to the cabin ever since she found out that she was pregnant.

“M-My little one, of course,” Sinon replied, “Geez, you startled me! Announce yourself before randomly chiming in next time, okay?” She pointed to a chair at the dinner table, inviting her friend to sit. Fikki nodded and plopped herself into the wooden chair closest to the rocking one.

“Okie dokie,” she hummed, “On that note, I’m really excited to see what kind of down your hatchling will have!” She chittered at the end, her beak clicking as she did. Sinon, however, did a facepalm.

“Fikki, human young don’t have down. Grown humans don’t have plumage, so why would their offspring? And, uh, they don’t… hatch, either,” she explained, dumbfounded. Fikki cocked her head— she really looked like a bird when she did that— as if to say that she didn’t understand.

“But you’re an Ornit now, aren’t you? I figured that, since Sycamore’s gonna be born here, he’d become… y’know, like us! Improvise, adapt, survive,” she refuted rather cheerily. She ruffled her turquoise feathers, though, almost seeming peeved.

“That’s not how it works,” Sinon muttered ruefully, “If one’s birthplace determined whether they fit in or not, I wouldn’t have had to run away from mine.” She tapped the tip of her shoe to the floor and pushed downward, effectively making her chair rock. As she moved back and forth, caressing her baby bump, she gazed out the window to some far off land.

“Sinon, are you okay?” Fikki asked, snapping her out of her bitter reminiscence.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine!” Sinon reassured, lying through her teeth, “Sorry to take the conversation two steps back, but I just processed something. You called me an Ornit, that’s kinda funny.” She switched the topic as fast as she could and threw in a weak grin for good measure. Thankfully, it worked on the excitable Fikki.

“Because that’s who you are! You’re not Sinon of the Stupid Bad Cruiser Alliance, you’re Sinon of the Ornit Tribe now!” she exclaimed. Her beak seemed to curve into a smile, somehow. Such joy was contagious, so Sinon had to stifle her laughter.

“Legally, I’m still Sinon of Ruis na Rig. But, yeah, as long as I’m slacking off on my adventurer duties, I’m Sinon of the Ornit Tribe,” she pointed out. However, as soon as the words came out, she felt butterflies in her chest.

Saying she had a place to belong felt good. It felt really, really good, because it meant that she wasn’t a loner anymore. She had friends who cared for her, human and Ornit. She had a husband who loved her. And soon, she’d have a baby to love and care for with him.

A baby to love.

“Sinon, why’re you crying?” Fikki asked upon noticing that her friend had begun to bawl. Sinon wiped her eyes as quickly as she could, roughly rubbing them to hide what was going on. They grew red and puffy.

“I’m not crying,” she shot back through sniffles. The tears wouldn’t stop coming, though. The collar of her blouse was beginning to become damp. Fikki got up and walked over, gently placing her talons on Sinon’s shoulder. She used the other to pry away her hands.

“You definitely are…” the Ornit grumbled, “Are you okay? Is the baby hurting you? Oh no, is he on his way?!” Her progression of rationalizations went by so quickly that she nearly fell into a panic. Sinon shook her head frantically before settling into a warm smile.

“No, Fikki, we’re fine. These are… happy tears. Having you consider me one of the Ornit Tribe made me very happy,” she explained. She held the talon that gripped her wrists with her dominant hand; her right hand. There was still a tiny scar etched on top. However, that didn’t matter anymore. The moment Sinon moved to the spring by the Ornit Tribe, she’d undergone a metamorphosis; it just took her some time to notice.

The ice cold sniper had let the guarded shell around her heart melt away and became the gentle oasis for the deserts she once conquered, giving support to future travellers.

Sinon patted her baby bump, still grinning. She couldn’t wait to meet her little adventurer.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m 90% sure everyone knows who this is because I just had to throw in the Sinon liking dinosaur steak bit but thog don’t care! That and the fact that she wants her own log house by the spring are the other things I nabbed from canon.  
> Also, the working title for this was “mango passion”, which is a pretty bad title since it was simply what I was drinking at the time of writing lmfao.


End file.
